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Daily news update: Oppenheimer party donations, bleak crime stats and more Eskom insights
Here’s your morning news update: An easy-to-read selection of our top stories. Stay up to date with The Citizen – More News, Your Way.
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba and EFF leader Julius Malema. Picture: Twitter
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SA reacts to the Oppenheimers’ political party donations
Rebecca Oppenheimer, Victoria Freudenheim, and Jessica Slack, who are the granddaughters of Harry and Bridget Oppenheimer and daughters of Mary Slack, donated a total of nearly R10 million to Action SA, led by businessman and former Joburg Mayor Herman Mashaba.
Durban philanthropist and billionaire Martin Moshal appears to have his fingers in two pies, with donations to both the DA and Action SA.
Parties band together to keep the ANC out of Joburg
Leaders and delegations from the DA, ActionSA, FF Plus, ACDP, UDM and Cope have banded together in a bid to keep the ANC out of local government.
The parties met in Johannesburg on Friday to discuss the way forward in forming coalition governments.
The meeting was a follow-up to the meeting held on 15 November between these parties.
Crime stats: Drastic increase in rape and murder during second quarter
Police Minister Bheki Cele on Friday briefed Parliament’s police committee on the second quarter crime statistics.
The stats paint a bleak picture: all contact crimes such as rape, murder, and attempted murder have increased during the three-month review period.
‘Do the right thing’: Organisations renew call for Miss SA to ditch Miss Universe pageant
From 2pm on Friday, organisations ranging from Africa4Palestine to the ANC, Nehawu, the EFF, SACP, Youth for Palestine and Al Jama-Ah, gathered outside the Miss SA headquarters on Rivonia Road, in Morningside, to once again implore the organisation to boycott the Miss Universe pageant.
Newly crowned Mswane and the Miss SA organisation are under mounting pressure to boycott the pageant.
Pupil escapes a kidnapping attempt at a Joburg school
An 18-year-old Grade 12 pupil from Sandringham High School in Johannesburg is receiving trauma counselling after surviving a kidnapping attempt on Friday.
The incident took place near the Lyndhurst Primary School when she was walking to school.
A white Chevrolet sedan with four men inside reportedly drove towards her. One of the men, who was armed, tried to shove her into the vehicle, but, she fought him off and screamed, which alerted bystanders.
De Ruyter outlines challenges of trying to turn ‘arrogant’ Eskom around
A culture of of impunity and entitlement has reigned supreme at Eskom for the better part of the 98 years the state-owned enterprise (SOE) has existed as a monopoly.
This, among many other reasons, is why turning Eskom’s bad fortunes around is such a challenge, group executive André de Ruyter explained during the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and Wits School of Governance’s #FixIt series on Friday night.
Joburg reservoirs still struggling after Rand Water repairs
Low pressure in water reservoirs after planned maintenance work on the B19 pipeline is continuing on Friday.
Rand Water completed its maintenance of the pipeline on Wednesday, which saw two other pipelines, B5 and B11, tie into it.
With the problem persisting on Friday, Rand Water and Johannesburg Water met to “ascertain the extent of the current water outages” affecting Johannesburg.
Eskom could be moving to energy department
Deputy President David Mabuza says talks are underway to determine if Eskom will be moved to fall under the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy for better alignment and oversight.
The Deputy President said the Presidential State-Owned Enterprises Council will advise government on the appropriate shareholder models and repositioning of State-owned companies as effective instruments of economic transformation and development.
